Mountain Bike Bill, The Dirt on the Dirt

Category: Trails

Trails in General

More sights from around Sasebo

Okay for the last week or so I have been getting hammered at work.   I’m doing lots of writing but it is not about Mountain Biking.  Such is the nature of “work” sometimes.   I have managed to get out and find some new stuff and experience some more of the culture of Sasebo.   Here is a quick recap of the last week or so of my off-time in Sasebo.

There is plenty of terrian to play with here….finding the goods is tricky, but it is “coming along”.  Sometimes coming along means clearing old trails yourself.

When doing just that on one of the trails, I flipped over a rock and to my surprise this guy was there.  I’m a good 3 miles and 1,000 feet above sea level so I have no idea how “Mr Crabs” got up here.   I’m wondering if this guy has some “Finding Nemo” like story to tell.   One thing is for certain, he was quite a curmudgeon and was trying to get rid of me.   Thumbs up for full-fingered riding gloves!

I wonder how old Mr. Crabs would fair against this guy?  Lucky for Mr. Crabs this is a Japanese Rat Snake.

The food chain in action.  It is family dinner time at Charlotte’s house. 

I found a really old timber road up to the summit of Mt Syoukann.   So far this is the longest bit of climbable dirt I have found that did not include some hike-a-bike.

 

A real bonus was a pretty cool singletrack going down the other side of the Mt Syoukann that combined with the old road makes for a nice bit of riding.

Mount Eboshi is becoming a regular stomping ground for me but I’m still finding  bits of trails here and there to add to the riding inventory.

Mt Kaku is a bit bigger and west of Mt Eboshi.  It was a bit of work to get over to it and the final half a kilometer was a bit of beater hike-a-bike.    A snack and a little basking in the sun were well earned when I got to the summit. 

This trail coming off of Mt Kaku was a real treat.  This is a fairly new trail that shows some modern trail science applied to its design and construction.

You don’t have to get out on the trails to see cool stuff.  The city has lots of interesting stuff to see.  These Japanese carp are pretty fish and are plentiful in main river through town.

I came across some folks praticing a “Dragon Dance”.  It is some pretty intricate stuff they do.  There are 10 people working the dragon, conductor as well as about half a dozen kids playing various drums, gongs and bells to put it all together.

I watched them practice for about a half hour in the small park/court yard before strolling back to the hotel.

The sun is up and I have a day off….It is time to ride.

Toro Peak Access

It has been brought to my attention by a lawyer representing the Santa Rosa Band of Cahuilla Indians that the land around the summit of Toro Peak is part of the tribe’s reservation lands. Since my original posting of Santa Rosa Mountain and Toro Peak page in 2003, they have added signs to alert the public to the fact you will be trespassing if you go all the way to the peak. I have requested a meeting to see exactly where all of the boundaries are and get the full story on things. In the interim from what I have gathered from other sources you would cross onto the reservation lands shortly after the fork in the forest road at 12.8 miles. This is roughly halfway between SR-21 and SR-22 way points on my map. You can find numerous printed guidebooks and online resources that make no mention of the land ownership and access issues. Sometime in the last six years keeping the public off of Toro Peak has become a greater concern to the Cahuilla Indians. Hopefully my photos of this truly magnificent peak will satisfy your curiosity because you will be trespassing if you climb the last mile or so to the summit yourself. Also don’t forget to check out one my early additions to the site.

Exploring Mt Eboshi near Sasebo

Mount Eboshi is the most the promeint mountain surrounding Sasebo.  So of course I had to go up there and see what the deal was as I had been told there are trails up there.  I had even been given a very rudimentary map.  During my first visit I realized the map was pretty outdated and soon was relegated to remain in the pack as backup mountain money.   Luckily there were a few trailhead maps that I was able to key off during my second visit and things started coming together (sorta).

This is pretty much your average trail look near the top of the mountain.

Ready to get your chunk on?  (Yes this is the trail)  This this is pretty much the most extreme section of trail in the area, this type of rock is found interspersed along the trail and provide some nice character and features.

While stopping to smell the flowers this critter came along.

Check out this lookout/rest stop.   Look at this angle on the benches.  Does that not just scream, “Take a load off, lay back and relax”.

A skinny little bench cut that reminded me a bit of the SART.  It was one of my favorite and longest sections.  There is a lower section to this trail that appears to be rarely used that was also superb but suffered from some deadfall.  I spent some time and cleared the stuff that could not be ridden over.  I was hoping to see it continue on down the mountain but it stop at a road instead of crossing it and continuing onward.  Bummer.

Sort of a hazy view from the summit of Eboshi.   There are three trails going up to the summit, one is pretty mild, one looks nasty, and the other I have verified is a hike-a-bike pain in the arsh with just a merger 309 steps on the final section to the top.

   

Yes I counted them and even took notes  — I didn’t have a pen 🙂

A view from coming down the south side of the mountain.

While there is are some nice sections of trail I have yet to find a good trail that cashes out most of the four plus miles of climbing it takes to get up here on the road.   Most of the trails are up on top and none of the trails I have found go more than a third of the way down the mountain before dumping out onto roads.  I have found remnants of trails but the pace of Mother Nature’s reclamation program there just does not seem to be enough use to keep some of them from becoming overgrown.   With a few or so seasons of TLC  this place could be a far east MTB mecca quality playground.   More to follow…. 🙂

Snooping around Sasebo, Japan

So work has taken me back across the International Date Line for some more adventures in Japan.  This time I am in the south of Japan in the city of Sasebo.     The work is interesting with some new challenges to keep me on my toes.  I even have run into some old freinds from San Deigo who are calling Sasebo home these days.   What was really cool upon arriving here were all the freaking mountains I saw on the drive from the airport to the city.   Forested ridgelines that seemed to go on forever was pretty much the norm.  Early last week, I snagged a rental and have started snooping around.   With promenant peaks in just about ever direction there is plenty to explore.   There is not much of a organized scene here MTB wise, but there is a culture of hiking and what I would call “Micro-National Parks” in the area.  

This past sunday I checked out some of the in-town mountains.  There was quite a bit of road interconnecting to get to the trails but I think it was worth it.  This is an exceptionally pretty area so it was more like a tasty road-touring cake with some yummy dirt frosting on top. 

The view of the a small slice of the “99 Islands” from Mt Ishidake.

Zippy along the trail on Mt Akasaki.

Hmmmmmmm, where to go next?

The chunkier route less followed.

Brushing this out of your face along the trail is kinda cool.

Brushing these off your face is not so cool.  They get about as big as a silver dollar and while harmless they can freak you our when you get “Bulls-Eyed” right in the face with them.   This has happened more times while riding in Japan than I can count.

One of the mountains within the city limits of Sasebo is Mt Yumihari.  It is sizable and the roads are a bit steep.  While I have been on Mt Yumihari a couple of times already, there is no real trail system but more a like series of not quite connected trails.

 

Still there appears to be plenty of stuff worth exploring.

There are some stunning views from the summit, but I thought some of the more interesting bits were off in the back corners and the not quite so accessible spots.

This little spot about several hundred meters past and a brisk climb from all the parking lots was absolutely empty and made a pretty tranquil spot to chill and knock back a snack.

I recognized this as soon as I saw these as they were also near Mt Takayama near Yokosuka.   This is the basement foundation for a anti-aircraft gun battery used during World War II to protect the port of Sasebo.   I could not help but think what must have been gone through the minds of the soldiers manning this battery on August 9th 1945 when “Fat Man”, the second atomic bomb, was dropped on Nagasaki just 30 miles to the south.   On a clear day they would have had an unobrstructed view of ground zero and the mushroom cloud that reached upwards of 60,000 feet.  I’m sure they must have felt and heard it for sure.   Talk about being a witness to history.

There was this faded sign nearby.

By this time I was getting pooped and the my daylight buffer was getting a little short for full blown by myself and unaided by maps exploring.  I went down the mountain on a new route that included an extremely narrow one-lane paved road and took notes on all the various trails heading off here and there to be snooped at on another day.

It was a great day on a bike and I slept like a baby that night.

Updated Fugato-yama Japan Page

I have finally got my first of what I hope to be half a dozen a or so updated and new Japan trail pages up.  The Fugato-yama (aka Ghosttown” area is a really cool trail system that I have yet to fully get into each corner of yet.   The updated page reflects a bit of work left to be done as far as the trail information goes. I highly recommend a GPS for riding this area unguided for the first time and I have included a bunch of electronic data to help with that effort.   The primary file is a Google Earth KMZ file that includes a topographic map overlay that I created using data from the Japan Geospatial Institute.   Additionally most waypoints in the file also links to trail junction photos I took while playing around out here.   I hope this will be a useful tool for my peeps who visit the area.   

Updated Fugato-yama webpage

Help Save Calvera!

MTB Comments on the City of Carlsbad Lake Calavera Trails Master Plan Needed
Respond before the COB, Monday, August 24th deadline.

EMAIL your opinion to pam.drew@carlsbadca.gov  (This might be a type also include pam.drew@carlsbad.ca.gov)

1. All trails shall be multi-use. No segregation of trails based on trail width or biking vs. hiking.
2. No use of decomposed granite for trail surface improvements. Leave trail surface natural.
3. No widening of existing trails to meet Type A, B or C requirements. Trails are already wide enough.
4. Addition of quality multi-use singletrack into the trails plan. If the opened trails don’t provide a better experience than the closed trails, users will keep using the closed trails.

We have until Monday August 24th to file comments with the City of Carlsbad.

The next order of business will be dealing w/ DFG property and all the poaching/illegal building. The issue right now however, is public comment on the city plan (not DFG issues).

THANKS!!!!

 

Pre-SDMBA meeting La Costa Playtime and Photo Geekage

Last night was the monthly San Diego Mountain Biking Associationmeeting that was held at REI in Encinitas.  Before the meeting a handful of decided to get in a quick spin at the Rancho La Costa Preserve.  I got there quite a bit early so I tinkered with a new camera gadget that I have modified for use with a mountain bike.  It is a RF remote shutter release that has a range of over 100 feet.   The remote is a bit on the bulky side for using while you are riding as it could not be mounted on the handlebar in an easy to reach spot.   After some geekage, soldering and a bit of trial and error I made a remote micro-switch for the remote.  This “remote remote” allows me to put the camera on a tripod and then take pictures by just barely moving my thumb on the handlebar.    

 

Here is one of the first test shots.  I’m snapping the shot using my left thumb.   It was a good test as pressing the button did not detract from the riding.

During the second test shoot, I wanted to test out the range of the system.  The camera is at least 100 feet away when I snapped this first shot of the sequence.    I am going to do another test later at a further distance to see just how far you can push the range.   I also had the autofocus set to servo mode to it refocused as I moved along the trail getting closer to the camera.   Continuous shooting mode also works with this setup.  The main intended use for this setup is when I traveling and riding solo.  While I like taking trail photos, so of them would be so much nicer with a rider in the shot.   Now at least can use myself as photo fodder.    I may have a couple of tweaks left to do with the setup, I’ll put up some additional details on the gadget mods when everything is dialed.

After the photo tinkering, I zipped back down to the trailhead and hooked with the folks for the ride.  It was good ride, but I took next to nothing for pictures as I was doing a lot of chasing.

Here is Gardner Grady, aka SDMBA Vice President and member of the National Mountain Bike Patrol showing how is done on a section know as “Meet Your Maker”.    If you think you might me interesting in becoming a member of the SDMBA chapter of the National Mountain Bike Patrol, touch bases with Gyan Penrose-Kafka who can give you all the 411 on the program.

We finished up the ride with enough time to chill for a bit before heading off to meeting.  There was a really good turn out and there are lots of stuff happening around the county and particularly in North County.  It was well worth a few hours of my time to see what is going on in person without having to sift through all of the talking head chatterbox BS that seems to be so prevalent on the various online forums.    If you can out about upcomign SDMBA events by signing up for thier Trailnews mailing list.

Comfort Dirt at Sycamore Canyon

It was way too freaking early for a Sunday morning when I got up to meet Chip and friends down in Santee for a 7AM ride through Sycamore Canyon.     I had not seen Chip in a handful of moons and I had stuff to do in the afternoon so it worked out well.   I had also not been out to Sycamore Canyon in a really long time.  I think it has been over a year.   It was good to see Chip and good to ride Sycamore Canyon again.

 

All of the singletracks below the south gate of Goodan Ranch are in pretty good shape and the main trails in the park proper had seen some SDMBA TLC over the winter months.

After making our way to the upper trailhead at the north end of the park we continue northward and the did the area known as “Tip-Top”.   We did a nice lollipop up this area before coming back to the upper trailhead and taking the Martha’s Grove trail.

The run down Martha’s Grove was fun and it it was fairly zippy return back to the trailhead in Santee.   I was done and headed back towards home by 10AM.   This was very satisifying ride that was just the right size.   Like a good meal with a modest portion size, it was just enough to make you feel full but not uncomfortably stuffed.   Not every ride needs to be an epic, a training hammer fest or an out-of-beyond exotic ride.   This was like a comfort food kind of ride.  You know like a PB&J and a glass of milk.  (Pick your favorite)

Mammoth Lakes – Finishing Up

The last half of the family vacation were hella fun.  On Wednesday, the boys and I went up the mountain for some more trail fun.   We got off at the McCoy station about took “Trail Home” back down the Adventure Center.  From there we took the gondola back up to the McCoy station and took “Brake Through”.  The boys were riding quite well and was quite surprised at how quickly they have been progressing over this week.

 Jake on “Brake Trough”

The boys were itching to try some more difficult stuff so we decided to check out the lower portion of “Flow” and then onto “Shotgun”.   They really dug the more difficult terrain and some of the features like the wall ride.  

Will getting some good height on the Shotgun wall ride

Jake getting a little wall action.  Even with just getting barely on the wall he giggled and thought that was the best thing ever.

Will decided to tackle a log ride further down the trail.  I was a little apprehensive about it but was pretty stoked when after several attempts he nailed it.

 

We finished off the day at Lake Mary by renting some pedal boat to fart around on the lake and do a little fishing.     There was a lot more of pedalling around than fishing and Casey and Jake proved that pedal boats are not swamp proof.   It was the best boat rental ever as got way more than our money’s worth of laughs out of them.

On Thursday, while the family slept in, I we got in some runs on a few of the double black diamond trails.   They have some pretty gnarly trails up there that lett me humbled and stokes at the same time.   I did a couple of runs down Techno-Rock before hitting up Chain Smoke to Twilight Zone.   I was shotting some video and did not get any photos.    I can see a bigger bike in my future if I wanted to ride terrain like that on a regular basis.   For the final run, I went back up and did Bullet to Follow Me.    I was back at the room by lunch.

In the afternoon, the boys and I went checked out the old Mammoth Consolidated Mine.   The remenants of the buildings and equipment all over the site that are pretty cool to poke around.   

There is even a mine shaft that you can check out.  It is plugged some 30-40 down the tunnel but is really cool as you can still see the rails for the ore carts.  When I say cool, literally applies because as soon as you step into the the tunnel it feels like the tempurture is in the 60 degrees range. 

After finishing up at the mine we spent the rest of the afternoon feeding the fish at Twin Lake one baited hook at a time.    The following morning it would already be time to pack up and head home.  Man does time fly when you are having fun.  This was a great vacation and one I sure we will remember fondly for many years to come.

Mammoth Day Two

What a fun day in Mammoth we had yesterday.   After leisurely getting up and around, the boys and I went off to do some fishing at some of the local lakes.    Fishing is a good way to help teach the value of patience and we should have been doing this more often.  With my kid’s daily life of video games, hockey, skateboarding, bikes and all the other things that keep them buzzing with activity it was good to put things in the slow lane for a change.  We were all reminded that is called fishing and not catching.   

 

On several occasions we watched trout swim right below the rock were were perched on.   One even came up to the surface and gulped down a bug that just landed on the water. 

I was really stoked when my boys not only got to see a Bald Eagle but also watched it swoop down and pluck a trout right out of the water.  The eagle then landed on an dead tree nearby and proceeded to scarf down the trout.

While all Bald Eagles are big birds this was not a huge eagle like the one I saw in Anacortes, Washington earlier this year.   One thing is for certain I was so stoked that my boys got to have such an awesome nature experience without having to turn to the Discovery channel.

My mid-afternoon we decided to cut the fish some slack and headed back to the condo.   Looking at the clock we realized we had enough time to catch a gondola ride up the mountain.  Jake and Casey had some shopping on thier to-do list so Will and I suited up and headed out for a run down the mountain.  Will has been bucking to do some of the more difficult trails on the mountain.   I was also looking forward to some of the more technical and feature/stunt oriented trails as well but at the same time the Dad in me has been apprehensive about putting Will in over his head.  

After talking with some folks I decided to test Will out on the black diamond upper section of “Skid Marks”  that starts off right off the top of the mountain.    Will did quite well through the rocky bits and switchbacks, but did take a minor “soil sample”.   He did have all of the protective gear on so he did not even get a scratch.   I did find that following my son through the technical and semi-exposed sections made my riding more difficult as my brain kept switching back and forth between mountain-biker and dad mode.      

Once I realized that Will’s bike handling skills have been improving significantly I found that I was able to spend more time riding with him as a fellow mountain biker and and less as a protective father.  After Skid Marks we took the more intermediate trails of Paper Route and Juniper down the mountain and enjoyed some great swooping and flowing singletrack goodness down the mountain.  

The late afternoon light was really nice and colors of the mountains were starting to go off.   We stopped a couple of times just to take in the views.  Will has always enjoyed the thrill of riding but I think something may have clicked this afternoon about intrinsic value of experiencing the scenery and of the overall outdoor experience beyond simply the enjoyment of riding the bike.